Almost all of Lismore is limestone, which is why the soil on this long, thin island in Loch Linnhe is so fertile; it’s about nine miles by one. Saint Moluag founded a monastery here around 592, and in the Middle Ages the island was the seat of the bishops of Argyll. The choir of their 13th-century cathedral became the parish church in 1749, and St Moluag’s Cathedral still has its medieval doorways and a triple-arched stone seat for clergy. On the east side, Tirefour is an Iron Age broch, a round stone tower with walls four and a half metres thick, and Castle Coeffin is a ruin on the west coast. The Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre has a museum, a café and a rebuilt 19th-century island cottage. Bikes go free on both ferries: the CalMac car ferry from Oban takes about an hour to Achnacroish in the middle of the island, and a small council passenger ferry makes the ten-minute crossing from Port Appin to Point at the north end.
